Comanche guards our national parks from poachers and other criminals

Catching poachers is just one of Comanche's many jobs in the Grand Teton National Park. He and his handler Janet Wilts also perform search and rescue missions, locate drugs being transported through the park, and find evidence of crimes.

They are even called into action to find buried paragliding chutes after thrill-seekers make illegal jumps from the Tetons. This dangerous stunt could likely lead to a rescue mission that puts many people's lives at stake. These law-breakers try to conceal their crimes by burying their chutes and then pretending to be normal hikers leaving the scene. They then return at a safer time to retrieve their chutes -- unless Comanche gets their first!

Antlers are used in taxidermy and coveted as souvenirs, so criminals are tempted to abscond with them from national parks and recreation areas. Even though the elk and deer shed their antlers naturally each year, their removal can wreak havoc on the local ecosystem because they contain calcium and minerals that are crucial to the survival of the many species of animals that consume them.

Comanche is tained to point out antlers to his National Parks System handler, Janet Wilts. He is trained to find large caches that thieves have hidden near the road for easy collection. This allows the rangers to set up a stakeout and nab the offenders when they return. In much the same way he finds narcotics, Comanche can detect an individual antler that a tourist has carefully hidden in a car.

<nice photo of Comanche in a down behind a good-sized elk rack with the mountains in the background.>